8 



PHENOMENA OF PLANT-LIFE. 



kings and princes as they lie in their cradles ; the sta- 

 mens are fully formed, and stand as the principal part of 

 the blossom, and round about are tiny spear-like leaves. 

 Every cluster is wrapped separately in transparent 

 clothing, and over the whole are strong and opaque 

 vestments that protect the precious rudiments alike 

 from cold and wet. By degrees the spires grow tall- 

 er ; presently they burst at the tips, and eventually 

 the foliage and yellow vases peep above the ground. 

 The bees are glad when they arrive, and visit them al- 

 ternately with the palm-bloom in the hedges, return- 

 ing from their happy labor all besprinkled with the 

 yellow pollen. If a few crocus bulbs be placed in a 

 tea saucer, with a little cotton-wool as a foundation, 

 and the saucer be kept constantly supplied with water, 

 so that the wool shall be permanently saturated with 

 wet, the spires will open just the same as if in the 

 earth, and make even the gloomiest of back sitting- 

 rooms cheerful at the dreariest season of the year, 

 opening their gay corollas one after another. To 

 watch them grow day by day, is alone a cheerful 

 sight. The more we can keep ourselves face to face 

 with the simple and pretty little things of nature, 

 bringing them into our parlors, nursing them upon 

 our mantelpieces, making them companions of our sol- 

 itude, the more truly do we learn to love what is 

 grand and noble in the outer world. Improving ideas 

 are not got only nor perhaps so much from the con- 



